THE DIRECTOR of the agriculture advisory body Teagasc has said it would like to retain a significant proportion of the funds generated by the sale of its assets.
Speaking at the launch of its new human resources strategy yesterday, Prof Gerry Boyle said Teagasc had been encouraged to rationalise its infrastructure.
He said he would like to see “realistic incentives” provided to it as part of this programme to facilitate it to reinvest in the future.
As part of its reform plans, the network of Teagasc offices around the country is being streamlined from 91 to 51.
The amount of land being used for research is being reduced by 604 hectares.
Prof Boyle restated the organisation’s proposals to shed 117 staff as part of its change programme.
He said this would involve external redeployment arrangements and a voluntary redundancy and early retirement scheme. He said these proposals had not yet been achieved.
Prof Boyle said management and staff in Teagasc were working side by side on the implementation of the Croke Park agreement in the agency.
Based on current employment projections, he said staffing levels by 2014 will have fallen by 33 per cent from their levels in 2008. All staff had experienced pay cuts while overtime costs had been reduced by 30 per cent, he said, while more than 100 staff had been “significantly discommoded” as a result of the office closure programme.
Prof Boyle said 58 staff had been internally redeployed to other roles in the organisation.
Teagasc staff had responded to change by being flexible and taking on additional responsibilities, he said.
“From 2008 to 2011, the average number of clients per adviser has increased from 110 per adviser to 160 per adviser, with more than 200 clients per adviser in some cases,” he said.
The head of the body charged with overseeing the implementation of the Croke Park agreement, PJ Fitzpatrick, said the savings and reforms generated as part of the deal would be “scrutinised as never before”. He said savings and reforms would be published.